The Little Light
by noddwyd
Summary: Harry overhears the password to the prefects bath, and decides to go and attempt to wash away his troubles for a while. However, the forces of darkness will not allow Harry the chance for rest, and he ends up with far more than he bargained for.
1. darkness closing in

Disclaimers: I don't own Harry or Luna, or any other characters from the HP series, nor do I have any desire to own anybody; whether they are characters or not makes no difference to me. I also do not own anything that deals with the HP series. This story is mine though. Just so you know.   
  
If anybody has seen my Naraku muse, tell him I'm looking for him and he doesn't want me to find him. Now. On with the show?  
  
Harry leaned back against the marble surface of the prefects bath. He had filled it to be just   
  
a certain depth, since he didn't feel much like having to swim in it this time around. He did   
  
feel a bit guilty, using the prefects' bath, when he wasn't a prefect. And even more so since   
  
this was actually the girls' bath. He'd only accidentally overheard the password when he was   
  
using extendable ears to listen in on a conversation between Ron and Hermione, who had both been   
  
seemingly avoiding him for a time. Now he wished he'd never tried to listen in on at all.   
  
The reason why he was here alone taking a bath was because he had remembered how   
  
soothing it could be in here, from his fourth year, and he had not been able to relax in a very   
  
long time. In fact, he hardly slept anymore, between schoolwork, thoughts of his now dead   
  
godfather, and one Tom Riddle, whom he now knew he would have to face one day. He was very   
  
tired, but he couldn't sleep. His nightmares saw to that. The times he did get to sleep he'd   
  
always wake up feeling worse than before. He'd thought about asking for the dreamless sleep   
  
potion from Madam Pomfrey, but she'd told him it could become addictive and it wasn't a good   
  
idea.   
  
As he lay there in the bath amongst all the bubbles, he slowly started to lose   
  
consciousness. His eyes just wouldn't stay open any longer. He wondered for a moment what   
  
would happen if someone found him here, but then realized there was no way. He'd locked the   
  
door and then put a rune warding on it, something he'd learned in the past year, when he snuck   
  
to the Room of Requirement at night when he couldn't sleep. No one could get through the door   
  
unless he let them in.   
  
His dreams were no better than reality. He saw Ron and Hermione standing apart   
  
from him, too deep in conversation, or argument, as they seemed to perpetually be trapped in, in   
  
order to notice that he was drowning what seemed to be less than ten feet away from them. Then   
  
he saw a flash of green light and they both fell, and disappeared into darkness. He saw Sirius,   
  
through the veil, which had been pulled back. Sirius glared at him from the other side, and   
  
then turned and walked away from Harry.   
  
Harry tried to follow him but it seemed an icy yet iron   
  
grip was holding him back. He turned, expecting to see that a dementor had him in its clutches,   
  
but instead only saw blazing red eyes staring back at him from under the creatures hood.   
  
Burning into his skull. Harry, expecting to hear a high, cold voice, was shocked and afraid   
  
when he heard the deep rumble of what sounded like ten voices rather than one "You are weak,   
  
boy. I have snuffed out many meager candles far stronger than your own. The lights within you   
  
humans disgusts me." "Tom?" Harry asked with uncertainty. He had thought the pain from his   
  
scar was proof enough that it was Voldemort standing before him in his dream. The being   
  
laughed. "You are mistaken. I am not Tom. Tom died many years ago. The being known as   
  
Voldemort is a mere shell. Soon I will be awakened within that shell, and your world will know   
  
the same fate as the many others I have returned to their proper state. Nothingness. And there   
  
will be nothing you can do to stop me, boy!"   
  
The being placed the sleeve of its robes in front   
  
of Harry's eyes. Though there was seemingly no hand within the robes, Harry felt tendrils of   
  
thought creeping into his mind. He saw more images of death and pain. Neville under the   
  
cruciatus curse. Ron being eaten alive by some creature he didn't recognize. Hermione being   
  
ripped apart slowly by a dragon, not unlike the one he faced himself in his fourth year, and   
  
eaten. He saw Luna, being sliced in half by a curse he had seen used on Hermione before. He   
  
heard screams and moans of pain from all directions. He tried to wake up. He couldn't. He   
  
tried to pull away from the being, but it's grip only grew tighter. And just when he thought   
  
the pain and despair building within him would kill him, it suddenly stopped. He fell to the   
  
ground. The creature was screaming in pain instead, and fleeing, and he turned his head to see   
  
what it was that had done this. He was greeted with a blinding white light that seemed to have   
  
burned that...thing, and scared him off. The light grew closer to Harry, and he slowly began to   
  
focus on what, or who it was that had saved him. The first thing he saw were the eyes. Bright,   
  
blue eyes stared after the fleeing thing that had attacked Harry, anger clearly evident in them,   
  
and on her face. 


	2. light flowing out

Disclaimers: I don't own Harry or Luna, or any other characters from the HP series, nor do I have any desire to own anybody; whether they are characters or not makes no difference to me. I also do not own anything that deals with the HP series. This story is mine though. Just so you know.   
  
The lights started to dim a bit, and he realized that standing before him was Luna Lovegood. She turned to him, concern and empathy in her pale blue eyes, which he remembered as normally having an absent look in them. She kneeled and reached to grab him by the shoulders, pulling him up into an embrace. Harry, still having tears in his eyes, and wondering just how she had saved him from that monster, looked up into her eyes, which were now also swimming with tears. "You're safe from him, now, Harry. But you need to wake up. You'll be sick if you lie there in the bath any longer." He suddenly remembered that this was a dream. "…what?..how did you get here?" "Harry, there is a difference between dreaming and manifesting on the thought plane. I came here because I could tell you were having a nightmare in your sleep when you started mumbling and then crying." He looked at her in astonishment. "I'm going back now. You should too." And with that she faded into the floor and disappeared.  
  
Harry was shaken awake, slowly realizing he was now lying in an icy cold bath. He opened his eyes to find bright blue orbs staring back into his own green ones intently. "You should get out, if you're finished cleaning. Otherwise we'll need to run some more water. Yes, you do need to warm yourself up some. Did you know this was the girl's bath, by the way?" She said all of this with a slight smile on her face and in her eyes. Harry noticed she was wearing only a towel as she got up and walked over to the other side of the bath. Completely bewildered, and still shivering from the cold water, as well as his dream, Harry said the first thing that came into his head "H-how did you get through the door?" he asked, blushing at the sight of her leaning down to pull the plug on the bath, draining all the cold water. She turned to look at him. "You're not the only person at Hogwarts that knows how to manipulate the runes, Harry. Besides, all I had to have was your permission and the door opened." "But…I was asleep, how could I have given permission?" Harry asked, now even more confused. "Harry, you wanted someone to chase that thing away from your dreams, and I did. But I had to actually enter the room to do it properly." This raised more questions. "How did you do that anyway? I couldn't move at all…" He suddenly realized he was now staring at her, or rather certain parts of her he maybe shouldn't have been staring at. He couldn't understand how he had failed to notice, before now, just how beautiful she was; especially with that look in her eyes. She turned to face him completely now, after having plugged up the bath again, and turning on a few of the many faucets. "Well, that's simple really," she said, "How do you put out a fire?" This answer confused Harry, but he went along. "Water?" "Right. Only in this case, he wasn't using fire, he was using despair and fear against you. All I had to do was throw water at you two." Harry remembered the blinding white light, but couldn't recall any water at all. He supposed she was still speaking figuratively and playing around with him. "You mean water as in the opposite of fear and despair. Happiness?" She glanced downwards for a second, and then didn't meet his eyes when she said "No, Harry. That's not enough, actually. It takes love. By the way, you do realize you are naked, right?"   
  
Harry was in shock for a moment, until he slowly realized what she had just said. He looked down. Sure enough, he was naked, although at this point it didn't matter with all the thick foamy bubbles. Then he realized what else she had said, and looked back up at her. "You mean to say you love me?" She looked up at him slowly, a questioning look in her eyes, and said "Of course I do. I couldn't call myself your friend if I didn't, now could I?" Harry considered this for a bit, but then countered "Actually I once called Ron and Hermione my friends and they were never able to help me much with my nightmares. So what makes you different?" She shook her head "No. They don't know how to go where you and I were. It's a separate plane of existence." "…Oh.", he said. "good point." For some inexplicable reason, he felt a bit disappointed. He wondered what he'd been expecting her to do. Jump into his arms, maybe? 'Well, that wouldn't be such a bad thing…' he thought. He then realized he was staring into her eyes, while thinking this, and turned away, blushing. 'This is scary. I seem to be falling in love with Loo-, no. Luna. Or maybe it's just that she's too beautiful for her own good?' He turned back to face her again, only to find that her face was inches from his, and he quickly got totally lost in her eyes, losing all sense of time. 'Okay, maybe not then.' An uncontrollable urge to kiss her was rising in the back of his mind. 'Did she read my thoughts?' he thought for a second., then decided 'no. She wouldn't have to, it was probably written all over my face, not to mention the eyes.'   
  
"You should probably get out, Harry. Or you're skin will take on too much water." Harry, who had just been debating whether or not he could get away with stealing a kiss from her, was brought crashing and burning back to reality. He pulled one of his hands out of the water and looked at his fingers. Sure enough, the tips were starting to crack open in places they were so badly shriveled. That was not going to feel good later on. "Yeah, you're right. I'd better." H  
  
He started to get up. "Listen Luna," he said, "..t-thank you." he said, and reached down, putting his hands on her shoulders, and kissed her forehead. Luna smiled up at him. "Any time." she said simply. And before he could turn to go she pecked him on the cheek. Harry left the bath in a somewhat dazed state, and he wondered just how he got back to his dorm without being noticed. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.  
  
AN?: I wonder what he'll dream about now? hmm....perhaps I shouldn't write that part out... 


	3. runes, emotions, and energy, part1

The next morning, or, strike that, afternoon; Harry woke up feeling much better than he had in a  
  
long time. He was still very tired, but he'd felt worse, and so decided to get up and do   
  
something useful. He wandered his way to the Room of Requirement, thoughts and images of the   
  
previous night's dreams flitting in and out of his mind as he walked. He no longer had to walk   
  
past it three times before the door would appear. For some reason, it just seemed to be there   
  
waiting for him with whatever he needed these days. Of course what he was working on now were   
  
the runes. There was one set, or alphabet if it could be called that, which he could not   
  
unlock. He could tell they were particularly powerful, and he reasoned this was why he could   
  
not get them to work as easily. But today he was determined to crack their secret. He wondered   
  
vaguely if Hermione had learned how to actually unlock runes yet in her classes with them. From   
  
her descriptions, though, there was no indication she thought of them as more than an   
  
interesting old alphabets, with meanings hidden in every letter. But he had decided not to ask   
  
her about it in case he was doing something forbidden. He walked over to his usual table   
  
stacked with rune books and charts, all filled with lengthy descriptions on what each rune   
  
meant. Some of the ancient letters even had a story to go with them. Harry had found that   
  
understanding what a rune meant and how it came to be, and for what reason, was the first step   
  
in unlocking their potential. The stories were particularly helpful with this, although some of   
  
them were more like riddles than stories. The runes he was stuck on now had very little   
  
descriptions attached to them, and so he was having difficulty using his magic to bring them to   
  
'life', as he had started thinking of it. It came out of a very, very old book; most of which   
  
he couldn't read, as it was written in some other language, though not the same writing as the   
  
runes themselves. There were notes scrawled here and there, however. Some of them he found to   
  
be vaguely familiar, though he couldn't place it.   
  
He was staring at the first rune in the book, willing it to relinquish its secret to   
  
him, when he suddenly got a sense of a very dark and bleak energy coming from it. Harry stopped   
  
staring at it. Perhaps he should try another one. He turned the page to find the next one. He   
  
read what notes he could find. Apparantly whoever left the notes was able to unlock the first   
  
one, but could not get this one. Harry immediately thought 'well if this one is harder, then I   
  
don't have much chance with it either, now do I?' But as he was turning the page again, the   
  
rune started to glow. He stopped turning the page immediately and focused on the rune, which   
  
was now glowing a bright blue-white color. He hadn't even meant to do that, so how…"Hello   
  
Harry." said a voice from behind him. Harry jumped what must have been ten feet , turned, and   
  
saw Luna Lovegood standing behind his now empty chair at the table. "She looked unphased at his   
  
reaction to her sneaking up on him. "Luna! Don't do that!" "Do what? You mean you didn't   
  
know I had come in?" She waved around at the room. "I hope you don't mind a little company,",   
  
she said, " I just needed to make one of these so I can finish my amulet." She pointed to the   
  
glowing rune overlapping the one on the page.   
  
He should have noticed. The room didn't look or feel at all like it had when he'd been   
  
in here alone. He was too engrossed in the book. The walls had gone from the sandy colored   
  
stone to a deep green smooth surface. There was now a fireplace in the room and a comfy couch   
  
which the table, still covered in books, promptly moved itself in front of, and readjusted   
  
itself. The room was much warmer and more inviting. "No, that's okay. Actually it's a lot   
  
nicer in here now," he said, gesturing around at the new look. The glowing rune was now   
  
floating in the air, and Luna used her wand to move it over to the couch so she could sit down   
  
on it, Indian style. Harry moved to sit down to the right of Luna, hoping he could ask her how   
  
she had unlocked that rune. She was taking the rune and placing it, still glowing. on a blank   
  
sheet of paper, apparently for later use with her amulet. "What is that rune anyway," Harry   
  
asked, very interested to know how she had learned use of runes he couldn't unlock himself.   
  
"Oh, that? Well, that's one that you either can get to work or you can't. It all depends on   
  
how well you know the emotion associated with it. It's actually associated with love." "..oh."   
  
He suddenly remembered the darker feel he had gotten from the other rune, realizing now that it   
  
was hatred he had felt when he traced the rune with his fingertips. "So, I still don't get how   
  
you can use that rune and I can't…" he said, hoping to get more of an explanation from her. She   
  
sighed. "Well, Harry, it's probably because you are not allowing yourself to feel that emotion   
  
completely at the moment. It's understandable, especially after you lost your godfather. But   
  
you'll overcome that someday, just like I did. I know you will." She smiled, staring into his   
  
eyes. He couldn't get over her eyes for some reason. The pale silvery blue color, intently   
  
focused on his own eyes. He hadn't gotten the full impact of that in the past, because she had   
  
always had that 'out there' expression in her eyes. Now she was staring at him intently and her   
  
presence was reaching into his core. It was very comforting, but he knew she was right, he   
  
couldn't feel anything but grief at the moment. Sirius's death had hit him too hard. What   
  
really made it too harsh though, was the guilt he still felt, even after Dumbledore's accepting   
  
the blame himself. And then, turning to stare down at the table in front of them rather than   
  
into Luna's all too comforting eyes, he began, very much against his will, to cry. It was   
  
silent at first. The tears burned his eyes harshly as they came. He tried to say he had to go,   
  
but his voice wouldn't come. He started to get up, but the room changed again, and he knew this   
  
had to be Luna's doing. 


	4. runes part 2 partial chap

disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Harry Potter, and I believe Jo even encourages fanfiction, so I hope that no one will see fit to sue me over it.

Chapter 4: Runes of power (part 2)

Harry, who had been walking towards the door, stopped, seeing as the door had just dissapeared. He tried to will the door to appear, but he couldn't really concentrate on it that well. So instead he somehow ended up on the floor,  
leaning against the wall where the door should have been, doing his best to keep from making any noise while crying,  
as if it would have been less noticable to the room's other occupant.

"Harry, I know you don't want to think about it. That you want to run away from the painful part of it, but you have to remember that even though you've lost someone, it's because you had them in the first place. You can always cherish that fact. The memory of their friendship, and their love. And through that, you will always have them by your side, even if not in the way I am about to now."

Harry looked up and saw that she was now next to him, clutching something in her right hand, and smiling slightly,  
though she also had tears shining in her eyes. She then did something he hadn't expected, and wrapped her arms around him.  
Somehow, this calmed him, while also lessening the pain he felt, and his breathing returned slowly to normal.

"You know, before she died, when I was younger...my mother made this for me."

She pulled back and showed him what was in her hand. It was a rune carved onto what looked like some kind of wood, probably from a magical tree like the ones they used for wands. The wood had a bit of leather attached to it so it could be worn around the wrist or neck. He looked more closely at the rune, and realized that it was the same one she had just made herself through the one in the book he'd been studying. There were also smaller carvings around the outside, which formed a chain he was familiar with, one for protections from various curses and other things that could cause harm.

"It's a protective seal, but you don't normally see this as the base for the protection" he pointed at the 'love' rune in the center. "Usually there's fire there, or wind or some other basic element..." suddenly something clicked into place in Harry's mind, and he remembered how Quirrel was burned by touching him, and how Voldemort was forced to flee...because of his mother's love. This was the same thing. of course it would work...

"It's not just to protect me, Harry. Every time I hold it in my hands I can feel my mother's presence around me. Almost like she's hugging me again. It's very calming, to wear it. I thought about giving it to you, to help you to feel better,  
and besides I know you need the protection more than I do, but unfortunately I learned that it will only work for me, because I was who she was thinking of when she made it. The thoughts and feelings that went into this were meant for me, and me only. So that's why I snuck in here to make my own. The rune from the book was the last piece I needed."

"You're making one for me?" asked Harry, now actually blushing slightly. "Well, yes. Although, with us just being friends,  
I imagine it won't be as strong, but I suppose as our connection grows stronger, so will the charm in the amulet, probably." Her smile grew as she slipped the amulet over her head and under her robes.

Harry was somewhat in shock from the sudden affection he was recieving from the Luna. He had recieved very few hugs over the course of his life and this one had somehow reminded him of that, and he longed for her to do it again, but he also didn't want to appear weak to her.

Somehow Luna must have known what he was feeling and wrapped her arms around him again. This time he returned the embrace. "Come on, lets go over to the couch, it's more comfy than the floor." she said, smiling. Harry stood and pulled her up with him, and suddenly he was tempted to carry her over to the couch but he shook the thought from his head. 


End file.
